Seychelles butterflyfish
| Seychelles Butterflyfish | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Perciformes |
| Family: | Chaetodontidae |
| Genus: | Chaetodon (but see text) |
| Subgenus: | Rhombochaetodon (disputed) |
| Species: | C. madagaskariensis |
| Binomial name | |
|
Chaetodon madagaskariensis C. G. E. Ahl, 1923 |
|
| Synonyms | |
|
Chaetodon madagascariensis (lapsus) |
|
Chaetodon madagascariensis (lapsus)
The Seychelles Butterflyfish, Chaetodon madagaskariensis, is a species of butterflyfish (family Chaetodontidae). It is found in the Indian Ocean from eastern Africa (as far south as Port Elizabeth in South Africa) east to Cocos-Keeling Islands and Christmas Island, north to Sri Lanka. The Seychelles Butterflyfish is found in areas of rich coral growth on seaward reefs, at 10-40 m depth.
It grows to a maximum of 13 cm (more than 5 in) long. The body color is silver at the head, becoming white towards the tail, with a triangular orange patch covering the posterior and the caudal peduncle. There are a series of dark grey chevron lines on the sides of the body, partly broken into spots. Between the eyes and the start of the dorsal fin there is a black patch rimmed with white. The base of the caudal fin is white, followed by an orange patch and a white rim.
C. madagaskariensis is one of the "crowned" butterflyfishes. These form a group of largely allopatric species sharing the overall color pattern of dark forward-pointing chevrons on silvery hues, (usually) a black-and-white crown spot and yellow to red hindparts to a stunning degree; they differ in the exact combination of hues and some small pattern details. Other members of this lineage are the closely related Eritrean (C. paucifasciatus) and Atoll Butterflyfishes (C. mertensii), and the more distant Pearlscale Butterflyfish (C. xanthurus).
...
Wikipedia